Disney Cruise Countdown Details
12/29/2012 08:33:00 PM Posted by mommy2twincesses
In a previous post, “Unique
Countdown to Disney” I gave a brief overview of how I planned on spending
out time from Christmas morning until the day we actually leave-11 days
altogether. I’ve got the ball rolling and thought I’d share more details in
case any of you want to have your own countdown someday :o)
Using a Mickey head cookie cutter, I traced and cut out
colorful Mickey heads from scrapbook paper. I glued the heads to the front of
regular white envelopes and wrote the countdown day number in the corner. I
then strung them together with yarn and stuffed strips of paper inside that
told the countdown fun to be had that day.
Here is picture:
The strips read as follows: (oh, but
forget to mention where I got the cool Disney-like font, I found it free here http://www.dafont.com/walt-disney.font
)
11.)
11 days until we leave, let’s pass the time by decorating the tree!
10.)
Only 10 more days ‘til our trip so sweet, today we’ll bake some tasty treats!
9.)
Just 9 days before we go, you can use these in the water hole!
8.)
We won’t see our bunch for quite a while, let’s make some cards to make them
smile!
7.)
In just 7 days we’ll say “See Ya Real Soon”, let’s deliver our cards to family,
like Mamaw June!
6.)
6 days until we’re out of this place, come help mommy pack our suitcase!
5.)
In 5 short days we’ll jump on a plane-let’s learn all about it with reading and
games!
4.)
As we meet Mickey and other characters there, we’ll ask them politely to please
sign these bears!
3.)
Ahoy! There me mateys, 3 days ‘til we sail, we’ll party like pirates to wish
Castaway Cay farewell!
2.)
2 days, oh my goodness! How ever will we sleep?! Be sure to answer when this
rings and don’t make a peep!
1.)
Today’s the day! It’s finally here! And look, Tink’s left you all this awesome
Disney gear!
Disney Cruise Insider Exclusive! Fish Extenders
8/29/2012 11:35:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly be more excited or learn anything new about our upcoming Disney Cruise, I find something else extraordinary to add to my list of “I can’t wait for........”!
Have you ever heard of a “fish extender” or just “FE” for short? Didn’t think so. But, no worries, neither had I until this morning. I’ll fill you in on everything you need to know!
On Disboards.com there are discussion forums filled with endless nuggets of treasured veteran cruiser information. While browsing through the various topics I noticed a couple about “fish extenders” or with the letters “FE” in them. So, if you know me at all, you know that I can’t stand not to know something so I had no choice but to check it out and see what on earth these people were talking about!
Turns out that once you’re registered for your Disney Cruise, you can go online and “meet” other passengers that will be on your ship, all on the Disboards. A perk of joining this online group is having the option to participate in the “fish extender” program!
Basically, it’s just a big “Secret Santa” type thing, where everyone who is participating hangs a pocketed “fish extender” outside their room and at random times other participants will drop off goodies and surprises during your cruise! And of course, you will reciprocate by also dropping a little surprise off in their “fish extenders” too!
There is no minimum or maximum as to what is acceptable in the “fish extender” game, and I’ve been searching for ideas and it seems that every single thing I thought of has already been done. But, I figure something is better than nothing, and any extra “pixie dust” sprinkled on our trip will be worth it!
There are adorable examples of “fish extenders” on Etsy. This is my favorite one so far, but I’m too crafty to pay for it when I can figure out a way to make one myself! Actually, I didn’t even have to put much thought into how to make one myself since I can’t sew, as PumpkinKate came up with this completely functional and no-sew option. Thanks for the idea Kate-but I’m also too crafty to just brainlessly steal someone else’s thunder……….I’ll be pondering this one for who knows how long! LOL
Anyway, when I figure out exactly how I’m going to go about this whole “fish extender” thing, I’ll let you know-and post pics too! I have officially added us to the FE roll, so I’ve got to get busy :o)
While you’re here, check out my other post for more Disney Cruise insider tips and secrets!
If you’ve been on a Disney Cruise and participated in the FE exchange, share some details! What did you give, what did you get, and what did you use as your actual fish extender?!
Unique Countdown to Disney
8/10/2012 10:35:00 AM Posted by mommy2twincesses
As if going on a Disney Cruise weren’t exciting enough in itself, I’m going to spice it up even more by building sweet anticipation from the time of the big reveal on Christmas morning to departure day with a unique countdown!
I can’t take full credit for the whole countdown idea, because I’ve checked out several very cool blogs, including “How Does She?”, with similar ideas and taken bits and pieces from here and there and then threw in my own flare to create a countdown that’s perfect for us!
So, without further delay, here is “The Plan”!
Christmas morning will be the kicker, with Santa leaving the tickets! I’ll create some sort of display-probably just paper Mickey heads with the countdown numbers on them as a visual reminder of how many days we have to wait. It will probably look something like this adorable, yet simple, version I found on Pinterest. (All we’ll have is 11 days, thank goodness!)
Day 11: We’ll make Disney themed paper ornaments to decorate our “all holiday tree”. (FYI-the “all holiday tree” is a tree that stays up in our breakfast nook year round that we decorate for each month and/or holiday/celebration.) I figure this will probably consist of Disney images printed from the computer or even pages from coloring books. Nothing fancy, just simple fun!
Day 10: Bake Disney treats! Quite a while back I found both Mickey and Princess pans with reusable plastic decorations on clearance at Wal-Mart for $2 each! We could bake cakes in those, or perhaps make Mickey cupcakes like these Pinterest inspired ones.
Day 9: Leave out a cruising necessity gift, like new swim gear (think cheap-goggles and snorkel purchased when all the summer stuff goes on clearance!) sprinkled with “Pixie Dust” (aka glitter). I’ll explain and probably leave a little note that tells of the cool pools on board the ship and the ocean that we’ll be dipping in.
Day 8: Make “See Ya Real Soon”, Mickey’s famous saying, cards to take to close family members that we’ll want to visit before we leave. Again, these will be really simple construction paper cards with computer printed images glued to them. The girls have Minnie ears, so we may take a snapshot of them wearing these and attach to the cards as well. I figure that this will be more fun and cheaper than mailing postcards from the ship!
Day 7: After church we’ll go visit the family members we made cards for and deliver them! It’s kind of a Sunday ritual to “make the rounds” after church to visit the grandparents that live here in town (3 sets), so we’ll stick with that and bring them a surprise too :o)
Day 6: Officially start packing and let them help. I already have a list made out of things we’ll need, but I want the girls to feel included in every part of this trip. Nothing makes them more happy than packing a bag! LOL, up to this point it’s been no more than a night at Nana’s, but still, they enjoy packing and I enjoy letting them help.
Day 5: Toy airplanes! If we fly, this will be the girls’ first time, so I want to introduce the concept and begin going over rules and things to expect. We’ll talk about it and practice until the actual day of the flight!
Day 4: “Pixie Dust” covered “Doodle Bears” for collecting autographs from the characters onboard! We’ll take permanent markers for autographs, but I think that signed stuffed animals will be more fun for them to have autographed than the standard book or tee shirt. I will be taking my autograph book from my first trip to Disney, but I think the bears will be more fun for them. Also, they’ll look darling being displayed in their room when we get home!
Day 3: Pirate party wear! On day 3 of the cruise, after an amazing day at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island, there is pirate themed deck party onboard after dinner! Cruisers are encouraged to dress up as pirates, or in pirate wear of their choice. I found these super cute pirate costumes for the girls at a consignment sale two nights ago and plan on “blinging” them up a bit with rhinestones or sequins because my girls are ALL girl! As for DH and I, I plan on finding us cute pirate themed tee shirts to don with the signature Disney pirate bandana that is given to all cruise passengers at dinner the evening before the party.
Day 2: Call from Mickey Mouse! After booking our cruise, I ran across the option to schedule a call from either Mickey or Goofy, and decided that this would thrill them to bits. (This can only be done after your reservations have been officially made.)
Day 1: Backpacks filled with goodies to keep them entertained on the plane! Of course I’ll sprinkle more “Pixie Dust” and leave a note from the characters saying how they can’t wait to meet them, and off we’ll go!
And I'm going to keep my eyes open for clearance Disney party plates and napkins so the girls can enjoy meals with their favorite characters while we wait!
And I'm going to keep my eyes open for clearance Disney party plates and napkins so the girls can enjoy meals with their favorite characters while we wait!
There it is! That is my magical countdown to Disney plan! I’ll add pictures as I can :o)
Have you done a countdown to Disney? Am I forgetting anything to awesome to pass up? Share your experiences in the comments below!
